A Second Chance
by Topaas
Summary: When a group of newborns comes too close to Forks, the Cullens go fight them off. But something even Alice didn't expect happens, one of them draws Edward's special attention. Are second chances possible?
1. The One Where it Begins

_**Title:**__ A Second Chance  
__**Author:**__ Topaas  
__**Characters/Pairing:**__ Canon  
__**Rating:**__ M  
__**Category:**__ Romance/Drama  
__**Spoilers:**__ AU  
__**Summary:**__ When a group of newborns comes too close to Forks, the Cullens go fight them off. But something even Alice didn't expect happens, one of them draws Edward's special attention. __Are second chances possible?_

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_Welcome!_

_This is my first fanfic, so reviews and criticism are highly appreciated._

_I don't have a beta yet and I'm not a native English speaker, so I'm sure this isn't flawless. If you see weird grammar faults, tell me!_

_And last, but not least: I hope you'll enjoy this story._

_Love_

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EPOV

"Carlisle, we have to do something. And soon. We can't wait any longer, they are coming to close." My father's forehead was creased with worry. 'Edward..'

"They have already murdered half of Seattle, and now they are getting closer to our area. We can't postpone this any longer, it's time for us to act." I could see that Carlisle was going to agree with me, even though he feared for our family.

'There are many of them Edward. My latest estimation was that there are about 19 now. We have to get prepared for his.'

I nodded. Jasper would probably love to teach us his fighting techniques, and Emmett was practically dying for a real battle. Wrestling with me just annoyed him. That had probably something to do with me picking his actions out of his head before he could even perform them. The females of our family weren't so enthusiastic for the upcoming fight.

We saw it coming for weeks now. Apparently someone was creating newborns, many of them. It started in Seattle. We were always alert for an increase of murders or missing persons in our area. If something like this happened, the Volturi would usually step in. But we couldn't wait for them now, we didn't want those newborns too close to Forks, where we lived. And we certainly didn't want to draw any suspension.

When I entered the living room, Emmett and Jasper were already discussing strategies. Of course, Alice knew exactly what decision Carlisle had made. We would all follow him blindly. Carlisle was our creator, our father and mentor. We trusted him.

I wasn't looking forward to the fight like my brothers. They were so optimistic, though the odds weren't exactly in our favor. Seven of us, against nineteen of them. That was fairly uneven, even though most of them weren't what you would call experienced fighters. We would still have a tough one on this, and I feared that not all of us would remain unscattered.

A calming wave took me in. I looked up and saw Jasper winking at me.

"We will be fine," he spoke confidently, as if he was the fortune teller instead of his wife. I just shrugged. Time –or Alice- would tell.


	2. The One Where they Fight

_I'm sorry it took me so long to write the next chapter._

_But here it is and I hope you'll enjoy it!_

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**Phil Collins – Strangers like me**

I can see there's so much to learn  
It's all so close and yet so far  
I see myself as people see me  
Oh, I just know there's something  
bigger out there

I wanna know, can you show me  
I wanna know about these  
strangers like me  
Tell me more, please show me  
Something's familliar about these stransgers like me

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EPOV

We were waiting. We stood loosely in a half circle. The meadow where we stood was completely empty, except for us. All animals had abandoned this place as soon as they noticed us in there. I could smell their fear, while they ran away. But we weren't here to hunt. Not at them at least.

Vaguely it crossed my mind that this could have been a beautiful meadow, in different circumstances. I lost the thought when I heard Alice thoughts.

She was concentrating so hard, and yet she couldn't see how the fight would end. It had been like that for days, which frustrated her to no end. Carlisle said it might have something to do with the newborn's minds. They didn't have a plan, or made any decisions, that would all happen in the moment. But to be honest, we were all lost. We had no idea what was going to happen. I frowned. They could be here at any moment.

We were standing in half a circle. Carlisle in the middle, with on his right Esme, Alice and Jasper. On his left stood Rosalie, Emmett and myself. If I had been human, adrenalin would have rushed through my veins by now. Instead, the venom was rushing through my whole body. It made me tensed and ready to act at any second.

From the corners of my eyes I saw Emmett holding Rosalie's hand. The sentimental stuff was unusual for them, Rosalie almost never allowed it. But she seemed ten times as tense as I felt.

The first one to stir the silence was Alice. None of us needed to be a mind reader to realize what her sharp intake of breath meant. None of us moved. All of my senses where heightened. Suddenly they were close enough for me to hear their thoughts.

"The woman with the red hair is apparently their leader. She's not a newborn. Next to her, just a few inches behind her, is the one she has changed first. I estimate he's about four months old and next to her the most experienced fighter in the group. He thinks he is in love with her and would do anything to protect her. That's the exact reason she keeps him that close. The other one's are all very new, wild and reckless. Their thought are all centered around killing us, no strategies planned." I summed it all up in a quiet, very distant tone, keeping my voice low enough for them not able to hear me.

Only moments later the silence in the meadow was broken. We saw them coming at us, and the moment they saw us they broke away from their formation. Snarls ripped through the air while they leaped at us and a split of a second later I was fighting against two newborns.

The girl I recognized immediately. Her face had been plastered all over Forks. She and her friend had been one of the first to disappear. They went to Seattle some day and never returned. Her friend's father was chief of the town, and he was still trying anything he could think of to find him. It was a depressing thought that I was about to murder this young, innocent girl. But she wasn't innocent any more.

With a snarl she launched herself at me and tried to get a grip at my throat. Swiftly I moved out of her way and hurled behind her, ripping her arm off in the process. Her piercing scream of both anger and agony triggered the other newborn to attack me. It was a blond guy, probably not much other than myself when I was changed.

I jumped straight at the guy and bit him in shoulder, trying to rip him apart. A sudden piercing pain in my left side caused me to let go of the guy, who stumbled back, his thought completely incoherent. The girl furiously tried to get to me but I was too fast for her to catch and the loose of her arm caused her to be a little unbalanced. I ignored the burning in my side and slowly circled around the girl.

Her mind was only focused on attacking me, there was no space there for any plotting about the 'how to'. When she launched herself at me again, I got her before her feet could even touch the ground and broke her neck mid-air. I ripped her head from her shoulders and tossed it away, ripping her other arm as well in the process.

Not much time was given me though, because suddenly the blond guy was at my back. His hands were grasping around my throat while I was using all my force to loosen his grip. But his newborn strength gave him the advantage. His snarls mixed with the other sounds in the meadow, snarling, ripping, screaming. I stopped fighting him and for one split second he lost his grip on me, which was enough time for me to free myself from his hands and switch our places.

I destroyed him in merely a second and had for the first time since the fight started a small moment to look around. The meadow was the stage of chaos, complete and utter chaos. People where running, fighting, screaming, body parts where flying around. All I could do was hope that none of those where from any of my family members.

I noticed Alice having her handful with a large, dark-haired bloke, while some newborn girl tried to attack her from behind.

I leaped at the girl, throwing her away from my sister before she could do any damage. The girl was back at her feet in seconds though, pointing her fury now against me. A shudder ran through me when she stood up and I recognized her. It was _her_.

I had known she would probably be her, and after 'meeting' her friend earlier I shouldn't have been surprised at all. But I couldn't help but remember our only other meeting. The biology hour of horror. Only the thought of her smell was enough to have the venom pooling in my mouth again. The monster in me couldn't help but regret that there would never be a chance for me to get a taste of that delicious smell, ever.

And then there was the matter of her thought. Or her lack of thoughts. Her lack of thoughts I could hear. I realized immediately that that was something that didn't change. She was still a closed book for me, her mind silent as ever.

I felt the ridiculous urge to apologize to her. Apologize for what I did to her. Because this was my fault. I should have stayed here to fight my demons, not run away as far as I could. The logical part of my mind kept saying that it wouldn't have made a difference, that she would have gone to Seattle anyway, that- that thís would have happened anyway. But I couldn't help but regret my choice.

She didn't give me much more time to dwell on my thoughts though. A low hiss escaping her bare teeth pulled me back to reality.

I stared in her eyes, once brown and kind, intelligent even, though she had looked a little scared because of my proximity back then. Now they were bright red, furious and wild. I wasn't even sure if she recognized me as the weird class mate that behaved so strange when we first met.

Suddenly her ruby eyes narrowed and she leaped forward. She was fast, but not fast enough. A tenth of a second before she would slam into me I jumped aside, caught her arm and swung her away. With loud noise she slammed hard into the ground.

I prepared myself for another attack of hers, waiting for her to lose control again. She didn't disappoint, in a mere second she was back on her feet. And pretty pissed off if I might add.

I knew I should have taken my advantage when she was laying on the ground, I could have torn her apart. But something was stopping me. This girl, she stirred something in me. The protective side in me, that screamed that she was a victim.

It was the first time I fully understood Carlisle. He never wanted to fight, he hated it. And don't mistake me, I don't like fighting either. But for me it was like switching a button, I could turn my emotions off at such a point and just go with my instincts. I could rip another vampire apart and don't feel a thing. But now, for the first time I understood what Carlisle had been trying to say for years. It wasn't normal. I was about to take her life, and how could I do that? I never should have left this town in the first place, she might have been still alive then.

"Bella."

My voice was quiet, careful. She eyed me warily, momentarily confused, either about me knowing her name or about me trying to talk to her.

"Bella," I said again. She slowly stepped backwards, her eyes not leaving my face. She looked so confused, having no idea what I was trying to do. And to be quite honest, I had no idea either.

"Bella," I said her name for the third time. "It shouldn't end like this." She eyed me suspiciously, looking for whatever hidden meaning my words might have and ready to react the minute I would attack.

"What do you want?" Her voice was so clear, ringing like a thousand bells. A contradiction with her tensed posture, her hands balled into fists. The absurdity of the moment hit me like a meteor. We were surrounded by people fighting for their lives, and I was making small talk. What did I want? There was nothing I could do for her now. I couldn't save her anymore. Could I?

The little voice in my head was suddenly awake. Maybe I could save her, maybe I should save her. This young girl, with whole her life ahead of her. My family and I, we could help her. If anyone could, we could.

" We can help you." The words were out of my mouth before I could reconsider them.

She stepped back again, her eyes wandering around. She was scared of being bamboozled, I realized.

"You don't want to be like this, do you? It can be different. It really can. Give up fighting us, it's a fight you can't win. We can help you, we can help you adjust to this life." Even in my own ears my persuading sounded a little desperate. But I kept looking at her, not loosing eye contact, trying to show her I was being honest. She didn't say a word, she just stared at me.

Slowly I stepped forward, carefully watching her. I slowly stretched out my arm en reached her my hand, pleading her with my eyes to take it. I didn't want to kill this girl, I couldn't.

"Edward! What are you doing?" Rosalie's voice woke me up from our conversation, or my talking to be exact. We were surrounded by my family members, and they were staring at us. I had been so into persuading Bella that I didn't even kept an eye on the surroundings. The fight was over. The only newborn alive in the meadow was standing directly in front of me.

The looks on the faces of my family were diverse. Alice was just curious, while Carlisle looked slightly worried and Rosalie downright annoyed. Emmett and Jasper weren't really paying attention at all, they were creating a large bonfire.

Then I felt something warm and soft against my hand. I turned my head again and looked at our hands, joined together now. I smiled at her, a little more confident than I felt, and looked at my family.

"She's coming with us."


End file.
